On Wednesday, 5/16, I birded the Desert Loop plus Torrance Ranch and
Corn Creek.
The Tonopah side of the loop (including Miller's Rest Stop) was very
slow -- really nothing of interest.
The Fish Lake Valley was better. The only out-of-the-ordinary bird was
a pretty male ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK at Circle-L Ranch. Western
Tanagers were present in good numbers. Flycatcher diversity was down -
the only Empidonax I managed to identify were a few Grays. There were
several Western Wood-Pewees, one Olive-sided Flycatcher at the Sagehen
Road trees, a few Black and Say's Phoebes, and LOTS of Western
Kingbirds. The Dyer Pond had one Black-crowned Night-heron and one
Great Egret, one Wood Duck, and the other regular inhabitants. Warblers
were limited to Yellow, Yellow-rumped (all Audubon's), Common
Yellowthroat, and Wilson's. One Green-tailed Towhee was at the Dyer
Pond. All the White-crowned Sparrows I saw were dark-lored. Lots of
Lark Sparrows around.
From there, I headed toward Lida, making a stop at Lida Summit, where I
found a Black-throated Gray Warbler plus a few Pinion Jays. At Lida, I
came across my first MacGillivray's Warbler of the year. The
Ladder-backed Woodpecker reported by Greg was still present near the old
residence on the highway. Not much else of note.
A stop at Torrance Ranch (Nye) was rather disappointing for birds (the
resident Vermillion Flycatchers are always great to see, though.) The
real excitement was the largest Gopher Snake I've ever seen. It was
stretched out and being pretty calm (other than regularly sampling the
air with its tongue), and I was able to get very close and "measure" it
by stretching my arms out next to it. It was at least as long as my
outstretched arms, making it about six feet long! I got a cute photo of
it (just the head, with tongue out) which I've put on my website.
I then drove to Corn Creek (Clark), arriving about forty-five minutes
before sunset. Notable birds there were White-winged Dove, a young
Summer Tanager (red and yellow plumage), and my first Northern
Waterthrush of the year (at the bridge near the entrance.) A Wilson's
Phalarope spun around in the big pond. And at sunset, the air was filled
with Lesser Nighthawks and bats.
Here's a list from Dyer (Fish Lake Valley):
Wood Duck 1
Gadwall
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler 2
Ruddy Duck
California Quail
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Eared Grebe
Great Egret 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Swainson's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel 1
Prairie Falcon 1
American Coot
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper 17
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl 2
Black-chinned Hummingbird 1
Northern Flicker
Olive-sided Flycatcher 1
Western Wood-Pewee
Gray Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Western Kingbird
American Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
House Wren
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Green-tailed Towhee 1
Lark Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Western Tanager 12
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Black-headed Grosbeak 1
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Bullock's Oriole
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Martin
---------------
Martin Meyers
email: Martin (...AT...) SierraBirdbum.com
Photo website: http://SierraBirdbum.com
Truckee, CA